Twins strike late to take down Sox

BOSTON — Scott Diamond allowed three hits in seven innings, Ryan Doumit hit his first homer of the season and the Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Diamond (3-2) gave up a single in each of the first three innings, didn't allow a runner past first base and retired the last 15 batters he faced. He struck out two and walked none.

David Ortiz went 1 for 4 to extend his hitting streak to 27 games, a run that began before he sustained a season-ending injury in August. He has at least one hit in all 15 games he's played this season.

Ryan Dempster (2-3) pitched well for Boston and left trailing 2-0 in the top of the eighth after third baseman Pedro Ciriaco made errors on the first two batters, putting runners at first and third. That led to four runs, three of them unearned, as the Twins took a 6-0 lead.

The Red Sox entered the game with the best record in the majors but have scored just 14 runs while losing four of their last six games. They also lost two players after they collided chasing a foul pop by Chris Parmelee in the fifth near the low wall about halfway between home plate and third base.

Third baseman Will Middlebrooks caught it, but catcher David Ross slid into him, forcing his back to hit the wall. Ross left later in the fifth with a left thigh contusion and Middlebrooks was replaced by Ciriaco to start the seventh because of pain in his right side.

Josh Roenicke worked the last two innings, allowing Jarrod Saltalamacchia's fourth homer in the ninth.

The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on a leadoff double by Doumit and an RBI single through a drawn-in infield by Wilkin Ramirez. They made it 2-0 on Doumit's homer with one out in the seventh. It was upheld on video review after umpires ruled the ball had cleared the home run line at the top of the left field wall before a fan caught it.

It all unraveled for the Red Sox in the top of the eighth with three errors, a walk and three hits.

Ciriaco bobbled leadoff hitter Brian Dozier's grounder for his first error. The next batter, Jamey Carroll, hit the ball to the left of Ciriaco, who couldn't come up with it for his second error as Dozier took third.

Craig Breslow then replaced Dempster and failed to retire any of the four batters he faced. Joe Mauer doubled in one run, Josh Willingham walked to load the bases and Justin Morneau and Trevor Plouffe followed with RBI singles.

Alex Wilson relieved Breslow and Doumit grounded to first baseman Mike Napoli, who threw home for the force out -- the first of the inning. Saltalamacchia tried to double-up Doumit, but his throw was low for an error and Napoli's return throw was too late to get Morneau.

NOTES: With two singles, Morneau has 1,219 career hits, passing Torii Hunter's 1,218 for eight most in Twins history. ... Pedro Hernandez (1-0) pitches for Minnesota against Allen Webster (0-0) on Wednesday night in the third game of the four-game series ... The Red Sox placed Joel Hanrahan on the disabled list with a strained right forearm one day after their other closer, Andrew Bailey, went on the list with a strained right biceps. Manager John Farrell said Junichi Tazawa would have filled that role if needed. ... Ortiz's streak is the longest by a Red Sox player since Manny Ramirez had a 27-game streak from July 15 to Aug. 1, 2006.